All Our Yesterdays

SYNOPSIS:

“You have to kill him.” Imprisoned in the heart of a secret military base, Em has nothing except the voice of the boy in the cell next door and the list of instructions she finds taped inside the drain.
Only Em can complete the final instruction. She’s tried everything to prevent the creation of a time machine that will tear the world apart. She holds the proof: a list she has never seen before, written in her own hand. Each failed attempt in the past has led her to the same terrible present—imprisoned and tortured by a sadistic man called the doctor while war rages outside.
Marina has loved her best friend James since the day he moved next door when they were children. A gorgeous, introverted science prodigy from one of America’s most famous families, James finally seems to be seeing Marina in a new way, too. But on one disastrous night, James’s life crumbles apart, and with it, Marina’s hopes for their future. Now someone is trying to kill him. Marina will protect James, no matter what. Even if it means opening her eyes to a truth so terrible that she may not survive it. At least not as the girl she once was.
All Our Yesterdays is a wrenching, brilliantly plotted story of fierce love, unthinkable sacrifice, and the infinite implications of our every choice.

The suspense, the confusion, the puzzled pieces that start to fit together, the world building, the character development (both in the past and the future)… Should I really tell you how much I loved this story?
It was absolutely AMAZING! It blew my mind, of course I loved it!

I’d spend all my yesterdays reading this book 🙂 only to feel this joy with which it filled my heart, because there’s nothing better than finding a new favorite book – and this one here is a keeper.

TIME TRAVEL:

I love the concept of time traveling, still it’s usually hard to find a good book that touches this subject. So, why “All Our Yesterdays” worked for me you wonder?

Well, it doesn’t spend a lot of time explaining how things work, but the details it gives seem believable. Also, the connection between present and past is really strong – the characters are completely different now, you see how time has changed them, but you also feel the need to see why is it that they changed so much, how wrong did things turn out for them in the time between, and how the future selves might make things better.

The decisions are hard to make, the plans go wrong more than right, there are turnarounds after turnarounds and even though you might feel that things don’t add up, in the end you will see that they actually do.
Did I tell you how much I loved this story?! Oh, my!

PLOT:
My incoherent book description (also called ‘babbling in my new love language’):

Run before the future catches up with you;
Hide between your yesterdays until you make it right;
Fight for a version of yourself that might chase to exist.
… It’s all worth it, because when the past and the future collide and you’re running out of time there is only one thing holding it all up: hope!
And maybe, just maybe, that will be enough.

I’ll keep it at that, not wanting to spoil anything for you, but be assured that the action keeps you on the edge of your seat at ALL times, switching back and forth between time perspectives, only making you want more from both of them.

It’s a race against time, one to fix a future you might get attached to, as dark as it is, but one that it’s needed to be changed for a brighter one. There is a tough choice to make and it’s harder to make it happen, but there is hope and there’s the need to protect the young ones from the horrors their future selves might go through, and that hope has to be enough.

Of course, I had a feeling about how some things happened and who’s fault was for that.. yeah, I saw some things coming, but I still took pleasure in the revelation and I did enjoy EVERY aspect of this story.

Time is coming for us, and coming fast.

CHARACTERS:

I liked how all the characters developed over the time.
They kept consistent, even though there is this innocence that has been lost in the past years. You see how strong they are now, how weak and naive they’ve been in the past and you wish to find more about the things that made them change that much. But at heart, they are just the same; they wish for the same things, they fight for the same reasons, only at a different level.

Taking MARINA as an example, she was so innocent back in the past. Her problems seemed so insignificant compared to what will come her way. I can forgive her for being so silly in love and insecure, because teens can be like that and I had her older version right next to her to see that there was more to her that meets the eye.

My favorite character is (of course) FINN, I loved how he cared for his friends and mother, and I liked how his relationship with Em evolved over the time. It was the complete opposite of insta-love, the most naturally-paced love story you can find, one born from friendship and trust, one that I would like to see more often in the YA books (thank you very much).

It touched my heart their need to do the unthinkable to change the future, because they knew that nothing else has worked and there was no going back; and it hurt to think that their future might be erased and they might never get another chance to be that close again. My heart ached for what they were about to lose, no matter if their attempt would succeed or not.

Em’s protectiveness also made me like her. She treasured her past in a way no one else would, she longed for the things that were taken away from her – most of all her happiness, her innocence. She’s been through a lot and she’s tried everything to change things, starting with the simple ones, the harmless ones, but now only one more way remains, the final one, the more difficult of them all and it might be the only chance left before it’s all over.

JAMES was an interesting character. He was quite smart (and I’m not only talking about his genius side) and he was also caring. If only things never changed. I tried to picture the evolution of this character, but it’s really complex and hard to wrap my head around, as there are elements both from the present and the future that get to influence him in the same time. There is his love for his parents, for his brother, for his research, for his friends. And there is also passion, and there are also priorities, and there are also endless choices and possibilities. And I would say many things more, but I have to keep this review spoiler-free.

Anyways, what I loved the most is that the characters are flawed, they make mistakes, but they have also depth; they fight for the right things, but they still have a heart to lead them. They seem real and they question the things they need to do, they fear the possibility failure (they can even accept it) and they simply want to make things better for each of them. I loved them all and it pained me to see how unfair life can be sometimes, and how easily some beautiful things can break into thousands of pieces just in an instant.

CONCLUSION:

Where do I preorder this? Because I want it on my bedstand next to a few other beloved stories.

If I were to be really honest with myself I would give this book 4.5 stars because the future didn’t change as quickly as the characters interacted with the present and I wasn’t really sure why was that (it gave me some sort of unsettling feeling). The theory might work even so, but I feel like the future could have been altered just a bit by some events.. maybe. And also, once or twice the characters’ reactions were a bit slow, they made the connections between facts really slow and I even felt smarter then them (not that I complain, but I wanted to yell at them to just open their eyes, LOL).

But these are some very minor things, I loved this book to pieces – loved the action, the suspense, the romance.. everything. And guess what, this is a debut novel – and if the first one is this good, I am keeping my eyes on you, dear Cristin!

Happy midnight reading!

Early review: ARC received for review. Thank you!

ALL OUR YESTERDAYS – THE WEBISODES

On her website, Cristin has posted the first 2 videos in a 4 episodes series related to the book. Enjoy them!

Funny fact

I feel like there’s just a tiny-tiny-tiny.. very tiny similarity with the idea from this movie.. how cool is that, huh?

LEAVE A COMMENT

Woooowwho! It is that awesome hu?!?!?!? I loved all the books you compared it too, and I’m especially a big fan of Pivot Point! Cannot wait to read it now!

Yeah, I really loved it! 😀
I’ve been waiting for this book for a while now and I was really happy to get the chance to read it and enjoy it this much. Can’t wait now for other people to read it too such that I can talk about it, LOl!

Lissa

I love reading about your favorite books – and they usually are mine as well, so I can’t wait for this one (I already had my eyes on it, if only I could time travel :p )!

Oh, you are so sweet, thanks. I hope you’ll love this as well, it’s pretty great!
Good luck with finding a way to time-travel ^_^

I have never heard about this book before Ari, but it looks so good! The characters sound really good and the plot itself is so great. I LOVE the time traveling concept. I’ve been watching Doctor Who like crazy lately, and I’m so excited to read this book too. I wish it came out sooner though. September seems so far away…

Yeah, I was really anxious to get my hands on this book and I was really happy when I got an ARC. I loved this story, it was everything I wanted it to be. I hope you will enjoy it too when you get the chance!

Olivia

Pff, if this book has anything to do with the movie I am sold! :p Kidding!
Sounds like a great read, I can’t wait to read it too.